One day ahead of schedule, Finland closed its last remaining border crossing with Russia on Wednesday for two weeks. After the Finnish government decided to seal the entire border with its eastern neighbor amid growing political tensions.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s cabinet decided to temporarily close the 1,340 kilometers between the two countries, spread over seven other crossings, a day earlier over concerns that Moscow was using migrants to destabilize the Nordic country in an alleged act of “war.” hybrid.” For its part, the Kremlin denies that Russia is encouraging migrants to enter Finland and says it regrets the closure of Finnish borders.
The Raja-Jooseppi border point in Arctic Lapland, located about 250 kilometers from Murmansk, closed at two in the morning this Wednesday without incident, according to the government. The border cannot be crossed on foot and no migrants were recorded trying to enter Finland at this point, border authorities commented.
On this point. The same sources have reported that some 1,000 immigrants without visas or valid documentation have arrived at the border since August, and more than 900 in November alone.
In this sense. Finland accuses Russia of deliberately driving migrants into the Russian border area controlled by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
The Nordic country forms an important part of NATO’s northeastern flank and acts as the European Union’s external border in the north. According to the Finnish government, the migrants come from countries including Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, and the vast majority of them sought asylum in the country once they reached the Finnish side of the border, they said. this Wednesday the authorities.
The situation has intensified tensions between Helsinki and Moscow after decades of pragmatic and friendly relations between the neighboring countries. Those ties were severed with Finland’s decision in May 2022 to join NATO, a direct result of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022. Finland became NATO’s 31st member in April of this year.
The complete closure of the border between Finland and Russia will last at least two weeks, until December 13, after which a crossing point can be opened. On the other hand, the railway crossing between both countries remains open but only for freight traffic.
